The Emir of Lapai, Alhaji Umaru Tafida, has called on the people of Niger State to embrace farming to ensure food sufficiency.
Tafida, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lapai on Tuesday, said that more attention to farming would boost food supply and shore up the economic fortune of the people.
“Farming is becoming more lucrative; everybody that can till the soil should embrace it.
“There is money in the rural areas with more farmers delving into rice, melon, legumes, tubers, assorted fruits and vegetables farming.
“If we can work hard, we will derive maximum benefit from the land and the land can only yield to people who work.” he said.
Tafida also charged the youths to take advantage of the 2019 planting season and return to farming rather than claiming that there was no work.
READ ALSO: Gov. Ugwuanyi lays foundation for Enugu State University of Education
“There is work for everyone; what we inherited from our forefathers is farming. We should not allow it to go into extinct.
“Here in Lapai we are agrarian; we do not know of any other business rather than farming. It is our business.
“For youths who lazily claim that there is no job, I want to tell them that there is job in the bush. Unfortunately, many of them are limiting their hopes to white collar jobs which are not readily available,” he said.
The emir urged youths to take advantage of various farming implements that have brought a lot of succour to farmers, adding that modern farming tools had made farming easy, more attractive and profitable compared to what it was decades ago.
“I want everyone to take advantage of the arable land we have in Niger State to secure food not only for the state but for the country.
“People should take advantage of the arable land to cultivate fruits, herbs, tubers, legumes and vegetables. These items are very marketable and can pull a lot of people out of the poverty cycle,” he said.
He urged the Niger State Government to mobilise youths to engage in farming grains, fruits and Shea butter so as to ward off indolence and make them self-reliant. (NAN)
